Anybody ever pull a "Kobayashi Maru"?

[Catseye]

Well, i kinda believe in two things...

(1) Players should have a chance to gain a feeling of accomplishment. Usually this means havign a goal they can reach, though maybe not the way they most like to reach it.

(2) I don't deprive players of their PCs unless they are either intensely stupid, violate repeatedly some of my base house rules (such as "be a hero"), or request it.

Having said that, i HAVE run two different TORG games that seem to start out with utter disaster and then gvie the players a chacne to redeem themselves. (My favorite, the one I wrote, "Time Pessages" takes them back in time to chnage the situation and then in the end foward again in time to the same scene they strated in, only now armed with what they need to succeed.)

I think that can be VERY satisfying to the players.

The closest I've ever come to running a "Kobiashi-maru" was ANOTHER TORg game I wrote, "The Faustus Project." the players DO end up achieving an important, even critical goal, that they were unaware of to start with. but in the process they discover at the end they have been fighting, and in fact been injuring and/or killing, the people they were originally tasked with saving.

Its a sublte, bitter-sweet sort of thing and I usually don't push it too hard. I make one observation about the battlefield at the end and then leave it at that. One player actually asked me if they had done anything wroign adn i assured him that thre really was no other way the situation coudl have played out and that the scenario is desigend to sucker them in that way.

Players seemed pretty satisfied. My theory is they did so because they coudl stil lsee that they did the best they coudl do with a less then eprfect situation and DID accomplish something significant and important.

[WonderStuff]

Hi.
I found an interesting adventure on the internet (kudos to original author whom I've foregotten). This comes the closetest to a no-win I've ever run.

Here's the premise (in short)...
Scientist Bob is murdered by an assassin. Some time later, Bob comes back as undead to avenge his death and stop futher killings. Bob has a special awareness towards his killer and can locate him anywhere. Being a "Super Assassin", all authorities and super groups have been unable to find him.

Heroes catch wind of all this.

Being Undead, Bob's spirit can only be stopped by something like an exorcism which will vanquish his spirit and soul and prevent it from reaching "heaven". Anything less than this and Bob's "body" will reform and continue to track down assassin and kill him.

Do the Heroes prevent Bob from killing the assassin and condemn him to "purgatory" ? Or do they allow him to hunt down and kill his assassin? (which is morally objectionable unless your Heroes are all Punisher/Wolverine types.)

Anyone wanna hear what my Players did? The ramifications are felt to this day. (about 3 years since adventure was run)

What would your Hero do?

Mark (Wonder Stuff...great Band, fun character)

[Dr Divago]

A master i konw has put, in a old DnD- Mystara campaign, a Kobayashi Maru;
the player are going to confront with SuperWizard gargantua. He's VERY VERY VERY powerful, and he can blast away the party with a simple hand, but he don't want their death, he want only their magic items

The party cannot defeat Garagantua, but can accept the condition, and give him some Magic Items. Only one has accepted, and lose a little bit of magic items. Other have tried to confront him, and lose ALL their Magic Items...

[Korvar]

Originally posted by WonderStuff
Anyone wanna hear what my Players did? The ramifications are felt to this day. (about 3 years since adventure was run)

Well, I'm intrigued...

[Seenar]

I want my players to be able to win, but not win easily. I have been known to place players into situations where I have absolutely no idea how they are going to get out of it. The best example is having a dragon attacking their tower. I did nor foresee the group Paladin charging the damn thing as it hovered just off the ground and then climbing on its back! Meanwhile other on the team used a dimensional portal to go get help. All very clever.

Though the best may have been in a Strikeforce: Moritoi based game where on player suggested stealing a mothballed space ship.